This application relates to the discovery and asexual propagation of a new and distinct variety of grapevine, ‘Hongju’, as herein described and illustrated. The new variety was first selected in the Republic of Korea in 2006. A second selection of the variety took place in 2007 and the process of regional adaptability took place from 2008-2013. The variety was originated by controlled crossing.
The new variety ‘Hongju’ is characterized by a late harvest date, the production of seedless, ovoid, grey red berry and a dense cluster of berries.
The seed parent is the varietal selection ‘Italia’ and the pollen parent is ‘Perlon’. The parent varieties were first crossed in Jun. 5, 1996. The date of first sowing was Feb. 17, 1997, and the date of first flowering was Jun. 8, 2000.
The new variety ‘Hongju’ was first asexually propagated in Feb. 2, 2008 in Imok-dong, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, in the Republic of Korea by Jeong-Ho Noh, Kyo-Sun Park, Hae-Keun Yun, Jong-Chul Nam, Sung-Min Jung, Youn Young Hur, Hae-Sung Hwang using hardwood cuttings.
The new variety ‘Hongju’ differs from its seed parent ‘Italia’ in that the new variety ‘Hongju’ is very vigorous with berries having an ovoid shape, no particular flavor and no seeds compared to “Italia” which has vigorous growth, berries having seeds, a cylindrical shape, and muscat flavor. The new variety ‘Hongju’ also differs from its seed parent ‘Italia’ in that the new variety ‘Hongju’ has a dense cluster of berries with a later date of bud burst of about May 3rd and later date of full bloom of about June 8th compare to a date of bud burst of about April 25th and full bloom date of about June 5th for ‘Italia’. The new variety ‘Hongju’ also differs from its seed parent ‘Italia’ in that the new variety ‘Hongju’ has an approximate date of maturity of October 1st, with about 113 days of growth to maturity, compared to an approximate date of maturity of September 20th, with about 104 days of growth to maturity, for ‘Italia’.
The new variety ‘Hongju’ differs from its pollen parent ‘Perlon’ in that the fruit of the new variety has a weak muscat scent compared to no scent for ‘Perlon’.
The new variety ‘Hongju’ differs from ‘Campbell early’ in that ‘Hongju’ has seedless berries with an ovoid shape, compared to the seeded, globe-shaped berries of ‘Campbell early’. The berries of the new variety ‘Hongju’ also have a grey red skin and no particular flavor compared to the blue black skin color of the berries of ‘Campbell early’, which also have a foxy flavor. The new variety ‘Hongju’ also differs from ‘Campbell early’ in that it has a later date of bud burst of around May 3th and a later date of full bloom of about June 8th, compared to a date of bud burst of around April 22nd and date of full bloom of about June 5th for ‘Campbell early’. The new variety ‘Hongju’ has an approximate date of maturity of October 1st with 113 days of growth and maturity, compared to an approximate date of maturity of September 2nd and 89 days of growth and maturity for ‘Campbell early’.
The new ‘Hongju’ variety has been shown to maintain its distinguishing characteristics through successive asexual propagations by, for example, cuttings.
Variations of the usual magnitude from the characteristics described herein may occur with changes in any of a variety of factors such as growing conditions, irrigation, fertilization, pruning, management and climatic variation.